Forklift Work Platforms Safeguard Elevated Workers
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All industrial workplaces are potentially hazardous, especially if proper safety equipment isn’t used at all times and accepted safety guidelines aren’t followed to the letter. The most common causes of serious industrial workplace injuries are accidents involving heavy machinery, falling objects, moving vehicles, and falls from elevated positions. Concerning falls from elevated positions, a frequent cause is simply not using the proper elevating equipment to begin with. Proper elevating equipment, for openers, must easily handle the weight of the workers. If there’s the slightest doubt about this, stop and reevaluate. If the equipment’s lifting capacity is fine for the job, there’s still other important considerations – but most of them concern whether the elevating and worker-positioning equipment is the right match for the job. One piece of such equipment that’s frequently the proper match are the
forklift work platforms. Please take a brief moment to learn the following key aspects of this important industrial equipment.
Many companies have jobs that involve employees working in elevated positions on a daily basis. For example, businesses working on construction projects often require workers to regularly perform tasks while standing on high scaffolding. Many other industrial companies that operate large facilities have jobs that need to be done in an elevated position, but only from time to time. Chief among these types of tasks are those involving maintenance or repair work. An example would be a broken air-conditioning unit that sits 25 feet high. An employee needs to be raised to level height with the unit and then must remain securely and safely positioned at that height for however long it takes to perform the repair. Scaffolding, even if the company owns it, often is not practical for this type of job. A ladder would be unsteady and thus potentially dangerous. So what’s the equipment of choice?
Very often the proper equipment are the
forklift work platforms. These
work platforms, as their name indicates, are designed to be attached to a forklift.
Forklift work platforms thus take complete advantage of a forklift’s significant lifting capacity. Just as importantly, these
work stations also take advantage of a forklift’s mobility. These
material handling work decks can be transported anywhere a forklift can be driven and then can be raised to where the work needs to be done. The work platforms have fork pockets for the fork insertions and heavy-duty railing along with metal backing and keeps the worker fully enclosed while he’s elevated and performing his repair or maintenance task.
The key aspect of forklift work platforms is that they provide a means for workers to perform a variety of jobs that otherwise would be dangerous. Ladders, obviously, can be very hazardous – and the degree of danger rises with increased ladder height. Yet there are companies that still ask workers to use them not just for climbing, but also as high perches to stand on while performing time-consuming tasks. This is a very potentially hazardous misuse of equipment. The forklift work platform is indeed the equipment of choice, for safety as well as for functional reasons. It is the customer’s responsibility to verify correctness of fit for applications.
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